Luggage processing station

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is a processing station ( 10 ) for registering a passenger&#39;s luggage for a trip. The processing station ( 10 ) comprises an injector ( 14 ) for receiving a piece of luggage associated with the passenger. A plurality of sensors ( 16   a - 16   i ) are associated with the injector. A weighing machine ( 18 ) is also associated with the injector ( 14 ) for weighing the piece of luggage whilst in the injector ( 14 ). The luggage processing (station  10 ) also comprises a user interface ( 20 ) for receiving various inputs for confirming that a passenger has checked-in and to display information to the passenger during processing of the piece of luggage. A controller ( 28 ) is associated with the sensors ( 16   a - 16   i ) and weighing machine ( 18 ) and the user interface ( 20 ). The controller ( 28 ) is adapted to accept the piece of luggage if the input received via the passenger&#39;s boarding pass or identification card indicate that the passenger has checked-in for the trip, feedback from the sensors ( 16   a - 16   i ) indicates that predetermined criteria are met, and if feedback from the weighing machine ( 18 ) indicates that weight of the piece of luggage is within a predetermined limit.

This application is related to Australian Provisional Patent ApplicationNos. 2010903430 and 2010903367, and to the Applicant's co-pending PCTApplication filed on 28 Jul. 2011 and entitled “Passenger and LuggageManagement System”, the entire disclosures of which are incorporatedherein by way of reference.

The present disclosure relates to a processing station for luggage. Theprocessing station has been developed primarily to facilitateself-service check-in of luggage for airline passengers and will bedescribed hereinafter with reference to this application. However, itwill be appreciated that the processing station may also be used forself-service check-in of luggage by passengers on trains, buses, shipsand the like. Moreover, the processing station may also find otheruseful application in processing of articles other than luggage, and maybe used, for example, in processing of warehoused goods.

One known luggage processing system involves a One Stop Check-InKiosk/Bag Drop, whereby the kiosk is co-located with the bag drop point.This known system, however, requires a passenger to check-in at thecombined kiosk/bag drop point before the passenger's luggage can beaccepted, typically resulting in a long transaction time and causingqueues during peak periods as the passenger is performing two operationsat one location.

Another known system includes a self service check-in kiosk to generatea boarding card, with the customer then proceeding to a “bag drop”. Inthis system, the “bag drop” is hosted where an airline agent scans theboarding pass and generates bag tags. Excess baggage charges, seatingchanges and other assistance is managed at this point. Typically, thisresults in a long transaction causing queues during peak periods.

A further known system includes a self service check-in kiosk togenerate both a passenger boarding card and bag tags. The bag tags areapplied by the passenger, who then proceeds to an open belt “bag drop”.With this system, the “bag drop” has limited security checks and doesnot weigh or check the size of a piece of luggage bag at point of bagdrop.

A yet further known system includes check-in kiosks which can beattached at a bag drop point. In such systems, a first kiosk is used togenerate a boarding card and then a separate kiosk is used to generate apaper bag tag which the passenger applies. The passenger then places thetagged luggage on the bag injector. These combinations require thepassenger to check-in at this point before luggage can be accepted,typically resulting in a long transaction time and causing queues duringpeak periods as the passenger is performing two operations at thislocation.

Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or thelike which has been included in the present specification is solely forthe purpose of providing a context for the present invention. It is notto be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form partof the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the fieldrelevant to the present invention as it existed before the priority dateof each claim of this application.

Throughout this specification the word “comprise”, or variations such as“comprises”, “comprised of” or “comprising”, will be understood to implythe inclusion of a stated element, integer or step, or group ofelements, integers or steps, but not the exclusion of any other element,integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps.

In a first aspect, the present disclosure provides a processing stationfor registering a passenger's luggage for a trip, the processing stationcomprising:

an injector for receiving a piece of luggage associated with thepassenger;

at least one sensor associated with the injector, the at least onesensor, in combination with walls and a floor of the injector, creatinga six-sided virtual box around the piece of luggage;

a weighing machine associated with the injector for weighing the pieceof luggage whilst in the injector; and

a controller associated with the sensor and weighing machine, thecontroller being adapted to:

-   -   monitor, via the at least one sensor, intrusions through the        virtual box to determine one or more of whether a predetermined        limit on dimensions of the piece of luggage has been exceeded or        whether a foreign object has intruded the virtual box from        outside, and    -   allow further processing of the piece of luggage only if no        intrusion of the virtual box is detected.

The word “virtual box” throughout this specification is to be understoodas meaning a box that is wholly or in part comprised of a non-physicalbarrier.

The controller may be adapted to accept the piece of luggage if feedbackfrom the sensor and weighing machine indicate that dimensions and weightof the piece of luggage are within respective predetermined limits.

The dimensions of the virtual box may correspond with the predeterminedlimit on dimensions of the piece of luggage. The dimensions of thevirtual box may be adjusted to conform to the respective regulatorystandards on luggage dimensions for a particular airport. At least oneside and the top of the virtual box may be generated by the at least onesensor. The at least one sensor may include one or more tunnel and/orlaser sensors and/or light curtains and/or photo eyes. The at least onesensor may include a first sensor comprising a rotating laser forgenerating a first side of the virtual box. The at least one sensor mayinclude a second sensor comprising a rotating laser for generating asecond side of the virtual box. The first side of the virtual box may bea top of the virtual box, with the first laser rotating about asubstantially vertical axis. The second side of the virtual box may be avertical sidewall of the virtual box, with the second laser rotatingabout a substantially horizontal axis.

A user detection sensor may be provided to detect the presence of a userin a predetermined zone around the processing station. The predeterminedzone may extend over an area around a user interface of the processingstation and an access opening to the injector through which the userinserts a piece of luggage into the injector. The controller may beadapted to terminate processing of the piece of luggage if feedback fromthe user detection sensor indicates that the user has moved out of thepredetermined zone prior to acceptance of the piece of luggage. The userdetection sensor may comprise a rotating laser. The rotating laser ofthe user detection sensor may rotate about a substantially vertical axisso as to generate a substantially horizontal said predetermined zone.The user detection sensor and the first sensor may be one and the samesensor.

The controller may be adapted to accept the piece of luggage forweighing via the weighing machine only if the virtual box is intact. Ifthe virtual box is breached after weighing of the piece of luggage iscomplete, the controller may be adapted to cause the piece of luggage tobe re-weighed once the breach of the virtual box is rectified.

The luggage processing station may comprise a user interface forreceiving an input indicating whether the passenger has checked-in. Theuser interface may comprise an electronic card reader for reading anelectronic passenger identification card. The input indicating whetherthe passenger has checked-in may be obtained by the electronic cardreader of the luggage processing station reading the electronicpassenger identification card. Alternatively, or in addition, the userinterface may comprise a scanner for scanning the passenger's boardingpass. In such cases, the input indicating whether the passenger haschecked-in may be obtained by the scanner of the luggage processingstation reading the boarding pass. The user interface may comprise adisplay screen to display information to the passenger during processingof the piece of luggage. The display screen may be adapted to display amessage directing the passenger to remove their luggage and check-inprior to attempting to process their luggage if the input indicates thatthe passenger has not checked-in. The user interface may also permit thepassenger to input information to facilitate processing of the piece ofluggage. The display screen may be a touch screen.

The luggage processing station may comprise a detector for detectingwhether the piece of luggage has a bag tag applied that storesinformation for associating the piece of luggage with the passenger andthe passenger's trip. The controller may be responsive to the detectorand may be adapted to reject the piece of luggage if the detector cannotdetect the presence of a said bag tag. The trip information on the bagtag may comprise information for associating the passenger's luggagewith a vehicle carrying the passenger on the trip. The bag tag may be anelectronic bag tag and the luggage processing station may comprise adetector for detecting the presence of such an electronic bag tag. Theluggage processing station may comprise an electronic writer for writingthe trip information to the electronic bag tag. The luggage processingstation may issue the passenger with a luggage receipt for acceptedluggage with an electronic bag tag. The electronic bag tag may be anRFID tag and the luggage processing station may comprise an RFID antennafor detecting the presence of the RFID tag and/or reading informationfrom the RFID bag tag and/or writing trip information to the RFID bagtag. The RFID antenna may be located below a floor of the injector.Several RFID antennas may be provided at spaced apart locations. Forexample, one RFID antenna may be located below a floor of the injectorand another may be located above a floor of the injector. The tag mayalternatively be a barcoded tag, such as a 1D or 2D barcode tag. Theluggage processing station may include one or more barcode scanners fordetecting the presence of a barcoded tag on the piece of luggage. Thebarcode scanner(s) may be movable and may be located above the floor ofthe injector.

The controller may be adapted to require the piece of luggage to bemarked as being heavy and/or to require the passenger to pay a surchargeand/or to reject the piece of luggage if the weighing machine indicatesthat the piece of luggage exceeds a predetermined weight or causes thepassenger to exceed their maximum luggage weight entitlement. Thecontroller may be adapted to require that a heavy tag be applied to thepiece of luggage if it is identified as exceeding the predeterminedweight. The controller may be adapted to prevent acceptance of the pieceof luggage until the heavy tag is applied to the piece of luggage. Theheavy tag may be a printed tag for application to the piece of luggage,and the printed tag may include visual indicia and/or a barcode forindicating weight data for the piece of luggage. A heavy tag printer maybe provided for printing such a printed heavy tag. Alternatively, theheavy tag may be an electronic heavy tag for storing at least weightdata for the piece of luggage. The electronic heavy tag may includevisual indicia, such as colour coding or weight information, forindicating that the bag is heavy. The electronic heavy tag may includere-writable memory for storing the weight data. An electronic heavy tagwriter may be associated with the injector for writing at least weightdata for the piece of luggage to the electronic heavy tag. Theelectronic heavy tag may be a radio frequency identification (RFID) tagand the electronic heavy tag writer may be an RFID writer. Theelectronic heavy tag writer may be located below a floor of theinjector.

The controller is also adapted to monitor the number of pieces ofluggage processed by the passenger. If the passenger exceeds theirluggage allowance, the controller is adapted to reject further luggagefrom the passenger. The controller may be adapted to accept furtherpieces of luggage from the passenger if the passenger elects to pay asurcharge. In such cases, the controller may be adapted to cause aprinter associated with the luggage processing station to print anexcess baggage receipt.

An injector conveyor may be provided in the floor of the injector forconveying the piece of luggage, if accepted, to a downstream collectorconveyor system. Actuation of the conveyor may be controlled by thecontroller. The controller may be adapted to deactivate the conveyor ifan intrusion through the virtual box is detected. If the luggageprocessing station is for processing of luggage for an aircraft trip,the controller may be adapted to close landside to airside barriers ifan intrusion through the virtual box is detected. The controller may beadapted to cause a notification to be sent to a security system orsecurity personnel if an intrusion through the virtual box from outsideby a foreign object is detected. The notification may comprisetriggering of a security alarm. The controller may be adapted to allowprocessing of the piece of luggage to continue or to be restarted if apredetermined security code is input and/or if electronic identificationmeeting predetermined criteria is provided. The predetermined securitycode may be input via an Airline Security Identification Card (ASIC).The controller may be adapted to allow manual processing of the piece ofluggage via the processing station to continue if the predeterminedsecurity code is input. The controller may be adapted to allow manualactuation of the injector conveyor in a forward direction if thepredetermined security code is input. The controller may be adapted toallow manual actuation of the injector conveyor in a reverse directionif the predetermined security code is input. The controller may beadapted to permit deactivation of a security alarm if the predeterminedsecurity code is input. The controller may be adapted to permitdifferent levels of access to the luggage processing station dependingon the predetermined security code that is input.

The scanner may be adapted to receive boarding passes of various types,such as a 2D identifier displayed on a screen, a 2D printed identifier,and/or to confirm passenger check-in via an electronic identifier storedon a passenger identification card or stored on an electronic devicesuch as a mobile phone and transmitted using near-field RFID. The 2Didentifier may be a barcode or other unique visual indicia. Inembodiments where check-in is confirmed via a passenger identificationcard, a receipt for the piece of luggage may also be written to thecard. An electronic writer may be provided for writing the receipt forthe piece of luggage to the passenger identification card. The passengeridentification card may be an RFID card and the electronic writer maycomprise an RFID antenna. Alternatively, a luggage receipt printer maybe provided for printing a luggage receipt for accepted luggage.

Monitoring devices may be provided around the injector to detect whenluggage is placed in the injector as welt as intrusion during processingof the piece of luggage. The monitoring devices may comprise one or moreof lasers, photo eyes and light curtains and/or photo eyes.

A tub embedded with an electronic tag may be provided for awkward bags.

One or more cameras or other image capturing devices may be positionedaround the injector to record images of luggage accepted. The imagecapturing devices may facilitate determination of intrusions, includingthe location of intrusions, into the virtual box, and/or may facilitatedetermination of the size of a piece of luggage in the injector and/orits suitability for handling by a downstream luggage processing system.

In a second aspect, the present disclosure provides a processing stationfor registering a passenger's luggage for a trip, the processing stationcomprising:

an injector for receiving a piece of luggage associated with thepassenger;

at least one sensor associated with the injector for sensing whether thedimensions of the piece of luggage exceed a predetermined limit;

a weighing machine associated with the injector for weighing the pieceof luggage whilst in the injector;

a controller associated with the sensor and weighing machine, thecontroller being adapted to accept the piece of luggage if feedback fromthe sensor and weighing machine indicate that dimensions and weight ofthe piece of luggage are within respective predetermined limits; and

an injector conveyor in the floor of the injector for conveying thepiece of luggage in a first direction, if accepted, to a downstreamcollector conveyor system,

wherein a walled enclosure is provided around the injector to restrictloading of luggage into the injector to a single side access openingthat provides for loading of luggage into the injector only in adirection transverse to the first direction.

In a third aspect, the present disclosure provides a processing stationfor registering a passenger's luggage for a trip, the processing stationcomprising:

an injector for receiving a piece of luggage associated with thepassenger; and

an injector conveyor in the floor of the injector for conveying thepiece of luggage to a downstream collector conveyor system,

wherein a recess is provided under the injector conveyor, an RFIDantenna being housed in the recess for reading an RFID tag associatedwith a piece of luggage, and wherein a top surface of the antenna ispositioned flush with the underside of the injector conveyor.

At least one sensor may be associated with the injector for sensingwhether the dimensions of the piece of luggage exceed a predeterminedlimit.

A weighing machine may be associated with the injector for weighing thepiece of luggage whilst in the injector. The weighing machine may belocated under the injector conveyor and the recess may be provided inthe weighing machine.

A controller may be associated with the sensor and/or weighing machine,the controller being adapted to accept the piece of luggage if feedbackfrom the sensor and/or weighing machine indicate that dimensions andweight of the piece of luggage are within respective predeterminedlimits.

In a fourth aspect, the present disclosure provides a processing stationfor registering a passenger's luggage for a trip, the processing stationcomprising:

an injector for receiving a piece of luggage associated with thepassenger;

a weighing machine associated with the injector for weighing the pieceof luggage whilst in the injector;

a controller associated with the weighing machine, the controller beingadapted to accept the piece of luggage if feedback from the weighingmachine indicates that the weight of the piece of luggage is within apredetermined limit that is selected based on one or more of theparameters selected from the group consisting of: a maximum weight foroccupational health and safety reasons, a weight above which a heavy tagmust be applied to the piece of luggage before acceptance, payloadcapacity of the vehicle carrying the passenger's luggage on the trip, aweight above which an additional fee must be paid before acceptance ofthe piece of luggage.

The controller may be adapted to require the piece of luggage to bemarked as being heavy and/or to require the passenger to pay a surchargeand/or to reject the piece of luggage if the weighing machine indicatesthat the piece of luggage exceeds a predetermined weight or causes thepassenger to exceed their maximum luggage weight entitlement. Thecontroller may be adapted to require that a heavy tag be applied to thepiece of luggage if it is identified as exceeding the predeterminedweight. The controller may be adapted to prevent acceptance of the pieceof luggage until the heavy tag is applied to the piece of luggage. Theheavy tag may be a printed tag for application to the piece of luggage,and the printed tag may include visual indicia and/or a barcode forindicating weight data for the piece of luggage. A heavy tag printer maybe provided for printing such a printed heavy tag. Alternatively, theheavy tag may be an electronic heavy tag for storing at least weightdata for the piece of luggage. The electronic heavy tag may includevisual indicia, such as colour coding or weight information, forindicating that the hag is heavy. The electronic heavy tag may includere-writable memory for storing the weight data. An electronic heavy tagwriter may be associated with the injector for writing al least weightdata for the piece of luggage to the electronic heavy tag. Theelectronic heavy tag may be a radio frequency identification (RFID) tagand the electronic heavy tag writer may be an RFID writer. Theelectronic heavy tag writer may be located below a floor of theinjector. The controller may be adapted to cause a sensor to scan thepiece of luggage, after application of the heavy tag to the piece ofluggage, to confirm that the heavy tag applied to the piece of luggageis the correct tag. This confirmation may be based on sequential codingof the heavy tag. Alternatively, or in addition, the controller may beadapted to transmit a message to the passenger offering for thepassenger to re-pack the piece of luggage so as to reduce its weight tobelow the predetermined weight, prior to re-weighing the piece ofluggage. The message may be displayed on a display screen associatedwith the injector.

If the trip includes travel by aircraft, the controller may be adaptedto transmit weight information associated with the piece of luggage to aflight management system for aircraft weight and trim purposes.

An injector conveyor may be provided in the floor of the injector forconveying the piece of luggage, if accepted, to a downstream collectorconveyor system. A recess may be provided under the injector conveyor,and an RFID antenna may be housed in the recess for reading an RFID tagassociated with a piece of luggage. A top surface of the antenna may bepositioned flush with the underside of the injector conveyor. Theweighing machine may be located under the injector conveyor.

At least one sensor may be associated with the injector for sensingwhether the dimensions of the piece of luggage exceed a predeterminedlimit. The controller may be associated with the sensor and adapted toaccept the piece of luggage if feedback from the sensor indicates thatdimensions of the piece of luggage are within predetermined limits.

The at least one sensor, in combination with walls and a floor of theinjector, may create a six-sided virtual box around the piece ofluggage. The dimensions of the virtual box may correspond with thepredetermined limits on dimensions of the piece of luggage. Thedimensions of the virtual box may be adjusted to conform to therespective regulatory standards on luggage dimensions for a particularairport. At least one side and the top of the virtual box may begenerated by the at least one sensor. The at least one sensor mayinclude tunnel and/or laser sensors.

The controller may be adapted to accept the piece of luggage forweighing via the weighing machine only if the virtual box is intact. Ifthe virtual box is breached after weighing of the piece of luggage iscomplete, the controller may be adapted to cause the piece of luggage tobe re-weighed once the breach of the virtual box is rectified.

In a fifth aspect, the present disclosure provides a processing stationfor registering a passenger's luggage for a trip, the processing stationcomprising:

an injector for receiving a piece of luggage associated with thepassenger;

a weighing machine associated with the injector for weighing the pieceof luggage whilst in the injector;

at least one RFID antenna associated with the injector, the at least oneRFID antenna being adapted to read first information from an RFID tagassociated with the piece of luggage and to write second information tothe RFID tag; and

a controller associated with the weighing machine and the RFID antenna,the controller being adapted to control operation of the RFID antennaand to accept the piece of luggage if:

-   -   feedback from the weighing machine indicates that weight of the        piece of luggage is within a predetermined limit, and    -   the RFID antenna reads the first information from the RFID tag        on the piece of luggage after writing the second information to        the RFID tag to confirm that the antenna has written to correct        RFID tag.

The second information written to the RFID tag may classify the piece ofluggage as being one or more of: a heavy piece of luggage, a prioritypiece of luggage, a piece of luggage with special handling requirements,and a piece of luggage of a special class. The processing station mayform part of a luggage processing system that also comprises a said RFIDtag. The RFID tag may be encoded with a unique RFID tag identifier. Thefirst information may comprise the unique RFID tag identifier.

In a sixth aspect, the present disclosure provides a processing stationfor registering a passenger's luggage for a trip, the processing stationcomprising:

a luggage transportation tub having an RFID tag fixedly connectedthereto, the tub being adapted to receive a piece of luggage associatedwith the passenger;

an injector for receiving the tub with the luggage therein;

a weighing machine associated with the injector for weighing the tub andthe piece of luggage therein whilst in the injector;

at least one RFID antenna associated with the injector, the at least oneRFID antenna being adapted to read information from the RFID tag on thetub; and

a controller associated with the weighing machine and the RFID antenna,the controller being adapted to control operation of the RFID antennaand to accept the piece of luggage if:

-   -   an input indicates that the piece of luggage requires the use of        a said luggage transportation tub;    -   feedback from the weighing machine indicates that weight of the        piece of luggage is within a predetermined limit, and    -   the RFID antenna reads the RFID tag on the tub and the        controller determines from the information read from the RFID        tag that the piece of luggage is in the tub.

In a seventh aspect, the present disclosure provides a processingstation for registering a passenger's luggage for a trip, the processingstation comprising:

an injector for receiving a piece of luggage associated with thepassenger;

an injector conveyor in the floor of the injector for conveying thepiece of luggage to a downstream collector conveyor system;

a weighing machine associated with the injector for weighing the pieceof luggage whilst in the injector;

at least one RFID antenna associated with the injector, the at least oneRFID antenna being adapted to write information to an RFID tagassociated with the piece of luggage and to read information from a saidRFID tag; and

a controller associated with the weighing machine and the RFID antenna,the controller being adapted to control operation of the RFID antennaand to actuate the conveyor to move the piece of luggage by apredetermined distance if the RFID antenna cannot communicate with theRFID tag, the controller further being adapted to accept the piece ofluggage if feedback from the weighing machine indicates that weight ofthe piece of luggage is within a predetermined limit.

The predetermined distance may be around 100 mm. The controller may beadapted to actuate the conveyor to move the piece of luggage by afurther predetermined distance if movement by a first said predetermineddistance does not result in the RFID antenna being able to communicatewith the RFID tag. The controller may be adapted to actuate the conveyorto move the piece of luggage by a yet further predetermined distance ifmovement by the second said predetermined distance does not result inthe RFID antenna being able to communicate with the RFID tag. Thecontroller may be adapted to terminate processing of the piece ofluggage if the RFID antenna is unable to communicate with the RFID tagafter the movement of the piece of luggage by the yet furtherpredetermined distance. Each movement of the piece of luggage by apredetermined distance may be in the same direction. The controller maybe adapted to actuate a variable speed drive to actuate the conveyor.The controller may be adapted to actuate the variable speed drive at alower frequency during movement of the piece of luggage by a saidpredetermined distance than during movement of the piece of luggage bythe conveyor to a luggage processing system after acceptance of thepiece of luggage. The controller may be adapted to actuate the conveyorto move the piece of luggage in an abrupt manner so as to facilitatereorientation of the RFID tag.

In an eighth aspect, the present disclosure provides a processingstation for registering a passenger's luggage for a trip, the processingstation comprising:

an injector for receiving a piece of luggage associated with thepassenger;

an injector conveyor in the floor of the injector for conveying thepiece of luggage to a downstream collector conveyor system;

at least one sensor associated with the injector for sensing theposition of the piece of luggage in the injector;

a weighing machine associated with the injector for weighing the pieceof luggage whilst in the injector;

a controller associated with the sensor, the weighing machine and theinjector conveyor, the controller being adapted to actuate the toreposition the piece of luggage if feedback from the sensor indicatesthat the piece of luggage is not within a predetermined zone of theinjector.

The predetermined zone may be a zone in which the piece of luggage canbe weighed by the weighing machine. Alternatively, or in addition, thepredetermined zone may be a zone in which one or more sensors candetermine whether the dimensions of the piece of luggage fall withinpredetermined limits. Alternatively, or in addition, the predeterminedzone may be a zone in which one or more electronic readers can read abag tag attached to the piece of luggage.

The controller may be adapted to cause a message to be transmitted to auser of the processing station if repositioning of the piece of luggageby the controller actuating the conveyor does not successfully move thepiece of luggage into the predetermined zone. The message may includeinstructions to manually reposition the piece of luggage. The messagemay be displayed on a display screen associated with the injector.

The at least one sensor associated with the injector for sensing theposition of the piece of luggage in the injector may comprise one ormore photo eyes and/or tunnel and/or laser sensors and/or lightcurtains.

In a ninth aspect, the present disclosure provides a processing stationfor registering a passenger's luggage for a trip, the processing stationcomprising:

an injector for receiving a piece of luggage associated with thepassenger;

an injector conveyor in the floor of the injector for conveying thepiece of luggage to a downstream collector conveyor system;

a weighing machine associated with the injector for weighing the pieceof luggage whilst in the injector; and

a controller associated with the weighing machine, the controller beingadapted to accept the piece of luggage and actuate the conveyor iffeedback from the weighing machine indicates that weight of the piece ofluggage is within a predetermined limit,

wherein weight specific logic associated with the controller isseparated from other code associated with the controller.

The weight specific logic may be maintained in a first module or modulesand the other code may be maintained in a second module or modules. Themodule(s) in which the weight specific code is maintained may have aversion number distinct from the version number of the module(s) inwhich the other code is maintained.

In a tenth aspect, the present disclosure provides a processing stationfor registering a passenger's luggage for a trip, the processing stationcomprising:

an injector for receiving a piece of luggage associated with thepassenger;

an injector conveyor in the floor of the injector for conveying thepiece of luggage to a downstream collector conveyor system;

at least one luggage tag sensor associated with the injector for sensingthe position of the piece of luggage in the injector, the sensor beingadapted to ignore hag tags that are sensed outside a predetermined zone;

a weighing machine associated with the injector for weighing the pieceof luggage whilst in the injector;

a controller associated with the sensor, the weighing machine and theinjector conveyor, the controller being adapted to accept the piece ofluggage and actuate the conveyor if feedback from the sensor indicatesthat the piece of luggage has a luggage tag meeting predeterminedrequirements attached thereto.

The predetermined zone may be established based on x, y and zcoordinates from the luggage tag sensor.

In a twelfth aspect, the present disclosure provides a processingstation for registering a passenger's luggage for a trip, the processingstation comprising:

an injector for receiving a piece of luggage associated with thepassenger;

an injector conveyor in the floor of the injector for conveying thepiece of luggage to a downstream collector conveyor system;

a user detection sensor to detect the presence of a user in apredetermined zone around the processing station;

a controller associated with the sensor and the injector conveyor, thecontroller being adapted to terminate processing of the piece of luggageif feedback from the sensor indicates that the user has moved out of thepredetermined zone.

The predetermined zone may extend over an area around a user interfaceof the processing station and an access opening to the injector throughwhich the user inserts a piece of luggage into the injector. The userdetection sensor may comprise a rotating laser. The rotating laser ofthe user detection sensor may rotate about a substantially vertical axisso as to generate a substantially horizontal said predetermined zone.

An embodiment of a processing station for luggage in accordance with thepresent disclosure will now be described, by way of example only, withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a luggage processingstation in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the luggage processing station of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic partial perspective view of the luggage processingstation of FIG. 1, showing the location of various sensors;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged schematic partial perspective view of the luggageprocessing station of FIG. 1, showing the generation of a side wall of avirtual box around the injector;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged schematic partial perspective view of the luggageprocessing station of FIG. 1, showing the generation of a top of avirtual box around the injector;

FIG. 6 is a schematic play view of the processing station of FIG. 1,showing the location of various sensors; and

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of luggage processing using the luggageprocessing station of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings, there is provided a processing station 10 forregistering a passenger's luggage for a trip. The processing station 10comprises an injector 14 for receiving a piece of luggage associatedwith the passenger. A plurality of sensors 16 a-16 i are associated withthe injector. The sensors 16 a-16 i are described in detail below. Aweighing machine 18 is also associated with the injector 14 for weighingthe piece of luggage whilst in the injector 14. The luggage processingstation 10 also comprises a user interface 20 for receiving variousinputs for confirming that a passenger has checked-in. For example, theuser interface 20 includes an electronic card reader, in the form of anRFID card scanner 22, for reading an electronic identifier from anelectronic RFID-enabled passenger identification card to confirmpassenger check-in. Alternatively, or in addition, the scanner 22 may beadapted to read an electronic identifier stored on an electronic device,such as a passenger's mobile phone, and transmitted to the scanner usingnear-field RFID to confirm passenger check-in. The user interface alsoincludes a scanner 24 for scanning various types of passenger boardingpasses, such as paper boarding passes with magnetic strips and printedboarding passes with 1D or 2D barcodes. The user interface 20 mayfurther include a magnetic card scanner for scanning magnetic strip-typepassenger identification cards. The user interface comprises a touchscreen display 26 to display information to the passenger duringprocessing of the piece of luggage. The screen 26 is adapted to displaya message directing the passenger to remove their luggage and check-inprior to attempting to process their luggage if the input indicates thatthe passenger has not checked-in. The screen 26 also permits thepassenger to input information to facilitate processing of the piece ofluggage.

A controller 28 is associated with the sensors 16 a-16 i and weighingmachine 18 and the user interface 20. The controller 28 is adapted toaccept the piece of luggage if the input received via the passenger'sboarding pass or identification card indicate that the passenger haschecked-in for the trip, feedback from the sensors 16 a-16 i indicatesthat predetermined criteria, which are discussed in more detail below,are met, and if feedback from the weighing machine 18 indicates thatweight of the piece of luggage is within a predetermined limit.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, sensors 16 a, 16 b, 16 c and 16 d, incombination with walls 30, 32 and a floor 34 of the injector 14, createa six-sided virtual box around a loaded piece of luggage. Sidewall 36and top 38 of the virtual box are generated by the sensors 16 a and 16b, respectively, such that no physical barrier is provided on thesesides of the injector 14, and thereby define a side access opening 39 tothe injector 14 to facilitate a passenger side loading luggage into theinjector 14 from a position adjacent the user interface 20. The sensors16 a and 16 b include rotating lasers, with the laser of sensor 16 arotating about a horizontal axis to define sidewall 36 and the laser ofsensor 16 b rotating about a vertical axis to define top 38 tofacilitate determination of whether the height and width of the loadedpiece of luggage are within predetermined limits for acceptance. Sensors16 c and 16 d include photo eyes for facilitating positioning of thepiece of luggage in the injector 14 and determining whether the lengthof the piece of luggage is within predetermined limits for acceptance.Walls 30 and 32 comprise a vertical glass panel to prevent unauthorisedaccess to the piece of loaded luggage, whilst still allowing the pieceof loaded luggage to be viewed. The height and width dimensions of thevirtual box, and the positions of the sensors 16 c and 16 d, may beadjusted by a suitably authorised technician, for example to conform theluggage processing station to the regulatory standards on luggagedimensions for a particular airport.

The controller 28 is adapted to monitor, via sensors 16 a and 16 b,intrusions through the virtual box to determine whether a foreign objecthas intruded the virtual box from outside, which may indicate that thepiece of luggage has been tampered with, and allow further processing ofthe piece of luggage only if no intrusion of the virtual box isdetected. The controller 28 is also adapted to monitor, via sensors 16a, 16 b, 16 c and 16 d, whether the dimensions of the piece of luggageare within the predetermined limits applicable to the particularairport, and allow further processing of the piece of luggage only ifthe predetermined limits are determined not to have been exceeded. Thecontroller 28 is also adapted to monitor, via sensors 16 c and 16 d,whether the piece of luggage is correctly positioned in the injector 18and allow further processing of the piece of luggage only if this is thecase. If the piece of luggage is determined to be oversized, thecontroller 28 causes the screen 26 to display a message for thepassenger to remove the piece of luggage and proceed with same to anoversize luggage processing counter. If the piece of luggage isdetermined to be overweight, the controller 28 may cause the screen 26to display a message offering for the passenger to repack the piece ofluggage to reduce its weight. If the piece of luggage is accepted forfurther processing, the controller 28 causes the piece of luggage to beweighed via the weighing machine 18. If the virtual box is breachedafter weighing of the piece of luggage is complete, the controller 28 isadapted to provide the passenger with a message indicating same via theuser interface 20. Once the breach of the virtual box is rectified, thecontroller 28 is adapted to cause the piece of luggage to be re-weighed.If the virtual box continues to be breached by the piece of luggage, thecontroller 28 causes the screen 26 to display a message for thepassenger to remove the piece of luggage and proceed with same to anoversize luggage processing counter.

The sensor 16 b also functions as a user detection sensor to detect thepresence of a user in a predetermined zone around the processing station10. The predetermined zone extends over an area around the userinterface 20 and the access opening 39 to the injector 14. Thecontroller 28 is adapted to terminate processing of a piece of luggageif feedback from the sensor 16 b indicates that the user has moved outof the predetermined zone prior to acceptance of the piece of luggage.

The luggage processing station 10 comprises detectors, comprising RFIDantennas 16 e, 16 f and bar code scanners 16 g, for detecting whetherthe piece of luggage has a bag tag applied that stores information forassociating the piece of luggage with the passenger and the passenger'strip. The controller 28 is responsive to the detectors and is adapted toreject the piece of luggage if the detectors cannot detect the presenceof a bag tag storing the required information. The trip information onthe bag tag comprises information for associating the passenger'sluggage with a vehicle carrying the passenger on the trip, such as anaircraft IATA license plate. The bag tag may be an electronic bag tagcontaining an RFID chip readable by one of the RFID antennas 16 e, 16 f.The RFID antennas 16 e, 16 f also function as writers for writing thetrip information to the electronic bag tag and, in some embodiments, maybe capable of reading information from the bag tag. The user interfaceincludes a printer 44 for printing a luggage receipt for acceptedluggage with an electronic bag tag. The tag may alternatively be abarcoded tag, such as a 1D or 2D barcode paper tag, readable by barcodescanners 16 g. The barcode scanners 16 g are movable and are locatedabove the floor 34 of the injector so as to have line of sight with thepiece of luggage in the injector 14. The barcode scanners 16 g are alsoprogrammed to ignore barcodes sensed outside a predetermined zone thatis established based on x, y and z coordinates from the barcode scanners16 g. This reduces the risk of the barcode scanners 16 g readingbarcodes not associated with the piece of luggage in the injector 14.

The controller 28 is adapted to reject the piece of luggage if theweighing machine 18 indicates that the piece of luggage exceeds apredetermined weight and is thereby classified as heavy, but is stillless than a maximum allowable weight. In such cases, the controller 28is adapted to send a message indicating same to the passenger via thescreen 26. Where the passenger has not exceeded their maximum luggageweight allowance, the message instructs the passenger to apply a heavytag to the piece of luggage. To facilitate same, the controller 28 maycause a colour-coded, RFID, heavy tag to be dispensed by a heavy tagdispenser 48 associated with the injector 14 for application to thepiece of luggage. Such an RFID heavy tag may have a re-writable memoryfor storing weight data for the piece of luggage conveyed via one of theRFID antennas 16 e, 16 f or via another RFID antenna prior to the tagbeing dispensed. The controller 28 may be adapted to cause one or theRFID antennas 16 e, 16 f to read the heavy tag after the weight data iswritten to the heavy tag and the tag is attached to the piece of luggageto confirm that the heavy tag on the piece of luggage is the same tagthat was written to. This confirmation is facilitated by the tag havingfirst information hardcoded thereon, the first information comprising aunique identifier, and the RFID reader reading this unique identifierboth before writing to the tag and after writing to the tag to confirmthat the unique identifier read before writing corresponds with theunique identifier read after writing. Alternatively, confirmation thatthe correct tag has been written to may be facilitated by sequentialcoding of dispensed tags. Sequential coding of tags is also used tofacilitate monitoring of stock levels of tags in the processing station10. If the sequential coding indicates that tag stock levels are below apredetermined level, the controller 28 is adapted to cause a message tobe transmitted, for example by a beacon, SMS or paging, to alert staffto restock the tags. The dispensed heavy tag may alternatively take theform of a printed tag including visual indicia and/or a barcode forindicating weight data for the piece of luggage. If the piece of luggageis determined to exceed the maximum allowable weight, which may be basedon a limit set for occupational health and safety reasons, then thecontroller 28 rejects the piece of luggage and causes a message to besent to the passenger, via the screen 26, informing the passenger ofsame and offering for the passenger to repack the piece of luggage toreduce its weight. The maximum luggage Weight allowance for thepassenger may be affected by the payload capacity of the aircraftcarrying the passenger on the trip and/or the passenger's status withthe airline associated with the trip. The controller may be adapted tocause weight information associated with the piece of luggage to aflight management system for aircraft weight and trip purposes.

In some embodiments, a dispenser may be provided for dispensing papertags for classifying the piece of luggage as being a priority piece ofluggage, a piece of luggage with special handling requirements, and/or apiece of luggage of a special class.

The controller 28 is also adapted to reject the piece of luggage if apassenger has reached the maximum number of pieces of luggage in theirluggage allowance or their maximum luggage weight allowance. In suchcases, the controller 28 is adapted to send a message indicating same tothe passenger via the screen 26. The message provides the passenger withoptions for rectifying the breach of their luggage entitlement, such asrepacking their luggage to reduce weight or paying a surcharge. If thepassenger elects to repack their luggage, the controller 28 causes theweighing machine 18 to re-weigh the luggage upon the passengerindicating via the touch screen 26 that the bags have been repacked andonce the virtual box is detected to be intact. Alternatively, thepassenger may elect to pay a surcharge to increase their luggageentitlement. Once rectification action has been taken by the passenger,the controller 28 checks again if the luggage is now within thepassenger's entitlement and, if so, accepts the piece of luggage andcauses the printer 44 to print a luggage receipt and/or an excessluggage receipt. Alternatively, as discussed above, where the passengerhas a compatible electronic bag tag, the controller 28 causes one of theRFID antennas 16 e, 16 f to write to the electronic bag tag the dataassociating the piece of luggage with the passenger and the trip orvehicle on which the passenger is booked to travel. One of the RFIDantennas may also be adapted to write to the electronic bag taginformation classifying the piece of luggage as being a priority pieceof luggage, a piece of luggage with special handling requirements,and/or a piece of luggage of a special class.

An injector conveyor 50 is provided in the floor of the injector 14. Theweighing machine 18 is located below the injector conveyor 50 and has arecess therein for housing the antenna 16 f, with a top surface of theantenna 16 f being flush with the underside of the conveyor 50 when inposition in the recess. The other RFID antenna 16 e is located above thefloor of the conveyor 50. The controller 28 is adapted to actuate theconveyor 50 if feedback from the sensors 16 c, 16 d indicates that thepiece of luggage is not within a predetermined zone of the injector 14,this zone being a zone within which the piece of luggage can be weighedby the weighing machine, have its maximum length checked by the sensors16 c, 16 d, and have any bag tags thereon read by the RFID antennas 16e, 16 f and/or barcode scanners 16 g. The controller 28 is also adaptedto actuate the conveyor 50 if none of the RFID antennas 16 e, 16 fand/or the barcode scanners 16 g is able to communicate with a bag tagon the piece of luggage. In such a case, the conveyor is first moved bya distance of approximately 100 mm and communication with the bag tag isattempted again. If communication with the bag tag is still notpossible, the conveyor is moved by a further distance of 100 mm andcommunication is attempted again. If communication with the bag tagstill fails after three movements of the conveyor 50, the controller 28may be adapted to transmit a message to the display screen 26instructing the passenger to manually reposition the piece of luggageand/or bag tags, and/or to terminate processing of the piece of luggage.

Once a piece of luggage has been accepted, the controller 28 actuatesthe injector conveyor 50 to convey the piece of luggage to a downstreamcollector conveyor system 52. The conveyor 50 may be actuated by avariable speed drive that runs at a lower frequency during movement ofthe conveyor 50 by the 100 mm increments than during movement of theconveyor 50 to convey a piece of luggage to the downstream collectorconveyor system 52. The controller 50 may be adapted to actuate theconveyor 50 to move the piece of luggage in an abrupt manner when movingby the 100 mm increments to facilitate reorientation of the RFID tag.

In some embodiments, the controller 28 is adapted to deactivate theconveyor 50 if an intrusion through the virtual box is detected viasensors 16 a and 16 b during processing of a piece of luggage in theinjector 14. The controller 28 may also be adapted to close landside toairside barriers if an intrusion through the virtual box is detected.The controller 28 may further be adapted to cause a notification, suchas triggering of a security alarm, to be sent to a security system orsecurity personnel if an intrusion through the virtual box from outsideby a foreign object is detected. The controller 28 may be adapted toallow processing of the piece of luggage to continue or to be restartedif a predetermined security code is input and/or if electronicidentification meeting predetermined criteria is provided. Thepredetermined security code may be input via an Airline SecurityIdentification Card (ASIC). The controller 28 may be adapted to allowmanual processing of the piece of luggage via the processing station 10to continue if the predetermined security code is input. The controller28 may be adapted to allow manual actuation of the injector conveyor 50in a forward or reverse direction if the predetermined security code isinput to send luggage to the downstream collector conveyor system 52 orreturn a piece of luggage from downstream. The controller 28 may beadapted to permit deactivation of a security alarm if the predeterminedsecurity code is input. The controller 28 may be adapted to permitdifferent levels of access to the luggage processing station 10depending on the predetermined security code that is input.

Monitoring devices may be provided around the injector 14 to detect whenluggage is placed in the injector 14 as well as intrusion duringprocessing of the piece of luggage and delivery of the piece of luggageto the downstream collector conveyor system. The monitoring devices maycomprise one or more of lasers, photo eyes 16 h and light curtains 16 i.

The user interface 20 may be adapted to require the passenger to answerquestions about the configuration of their luggage. If the passenger'sanswers indicate that the luggage may cause problems with downstreamluggage handling apparatus, for example due to having straps or beingunusually configured, the luggage may be classified as an awkward bagand the user interface 20 may be adapted to instruct the passenger toplace the luggage into a luggage transportation tub 54 and to place thetub 54 with the luggage therein in the injector 14. The luggagetransportation tub 54 is embedded with an electronic RFID tag that isintegrally connected to the tub 54, for example by being moulded intothe tub 54. The controller 28 is adapted to only allow the awkwardluggage to be processed if feedback from the RFID antennas 16 e, 16 findicates that the luggage is in a tub 54. When a piece of luggage in atub 54 is detected, the controller 28 is adapted to automatically deductthe weight of the tub 54 from the weight measured by the weighingmachine 18 to determine the actual weight of the piece of luggage.

One or more cameras may also be positioned around the injector to recordimages of luggage accepted. The cameras, or other image capturingdevices, may also be used to detect the location of intrusions throughthe virtual box.

Weight specific logic associated with the controller 28 and governingits relationship with the weighing machine 18 is separated from othercode associated with the controller 28. The weight specific logic ismaintained in a first module having a unique version number and theother code is maintained in a separate module or modules having a uniqueversion number of numbers that is distinct from the version number ofthe module in which the weight specific logic is maintained. In thismanner, changes to non-weight related aspects of the code/logicassociated with the controller 28 do not require recertification of theprocessing station 10 as a weighing device. The weighing device isadapted to automatically recalibrate itself to zero weight afteracceptance of a piece of luggage and before weighing a new piece ofluggage.

The processing station 10 is adapted to store a history of acceptedluggage to facilitate investigations. The controller 28 may be adaptedto allow the history to be printed if a user provides a predeterminedsecurity code. The security code may be provided in a number of formats,as discussed above with respect to overriding of security alarms.

FIG. 7 shows a flow chart summarising a luggage handling processutilising the processing station 10.

It will be appreciated that the above described and illustratedprocessing station 10 provides many advantages over conventionalpassenger luggage handling systems, some of which are discussed above,but which additionally include:

providing for luggage processing and injection only at the processingstation 10, which largely mitigates queues;

providing enhanced security and safety checks to detect incidence ofluggage tampering;

providing the ability to write information, such as flight and weightinformation, to electronic bag tags;

speeding up the process of checking in luggage for a flight;

facilitates passenger self-service;

facilitates the passenger staying within the predetermined zone coveredby sensor 16 b during loading and processing of the piece of luggage dueto the orientation of the access opening 39 transverse to the axis ofthe conveyor 50, in combination with the positioning of walls 32 and 34and with the positioning of the user interface 20 on the same side ofthe conveyor 50 as the access opening 39;

reducing the risk of reading from and/or writing to RFID tags notassociated with a piece of luggage in the injector by housing the RFIDantenna 16 f in a recess underneath the conveyor 50;

increasing the incidence of non-communication between tags and the RPMantennas 16 e, 16 f and/or barcode scanners 16 g by automaticallyadjusting the position of the piece of luggage using the conveyor 50 ifcommunication cannot be established;

accepting multiple boarding pass types;

accepting multiple bag tag devices;

luggage acceptance area monitored with lasers, photo eyes and lightcurtains to detect when baggage is placed in the area as well asintrusion during the acceptance process;

weighing and measurement of luggage in the baggage acceptance area;

an interactive user interface;

printers embedded to print out excess baggage receipts and heavy tagsembedded with RFID to ensure the tag is attached when a bag is heavy;

tubs embedded with RFID are used for awkward bags so that they can bedetected when used; and

use of cameras to record images of bags accepted.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerousvariations and/or modifications may be made to the above-describedembodiments without departing from the broad general scope of thepresent disclosure. The embodiments described are, therefore, to beconsidered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.

1. A processing station for registering a passenger's luggage for atrip, the processing station comprising: an injector for receiving apiece of luggage associated with the passenger; a group of sensorscomprising at least one sensor associated with the injector for sensingthe piece of luggage; a controller associated with the group of sensors,the controller is adapted to monitor the at least one sensor forintrusions by foreign objects not being the piece of luggage into theinjector; wherein the injector includes at least one physical wall and aphysical floor which is provided to restrict loading of luggage into theinjector; wherein the injector also includes an access opening thatprovides for loading of luggage; and wherein at least one side wall ofthe injector is generated by at least one sensor forming said accessopening.
 2. The processing station of claim 1, wherein the at least onephysical wall includes a physical side wall.
 3. The processing stationof claim 2, wherein the group of sensors generates a non-physical wall.4. The processing station of claim 2, Wherein the physical floorincludes a conveyor.
 5. The processing station of claim 3, wherein theconveyor is joined to a downstream collector conveyor system.
 6. Theprocessing station claim 1, wherein the processing station accessopening is located on one side of the injector.
 7. The processingstation of claim 1, wherein the processing station includes at least onebar code reader.
 8. The processing station of claim 1, wherein theprocessing station includes a weighing sensor positioned within thephysical floor.
 9. The processing station of claim 1, wherein thecontroller is adapted to detect intrusions within the zone defined bythe walls.
 10. The processing station of claim 1, wherein the controlleris adapted to reweigh the piece of luggage, wherein an intrusion by thepassenger is detected by the controller within the zone defined by thewalls.
 11. The processing station of claim 1, wherein group of sensorsincludes a sensor selected from the group of: rotating laser, photo eye,laser, light curtain, camera, or image capture device.